Lacene Lords

by Fornataro, Nancy

  Lex yawned, but she didn't take it personally, as she knew his interest in telepathy. He said, "You going to test her?"

  Renee watched him slump down in the seat further. So, he was a sleeper. She'd keep that in mind, not to give him liquor at any dinners or dates. Of course, dating was out of the question, as he was her supervisor at work. Why the thought even occurred to her, she didn't know.

  She sighed. "Yeah, we have a tentative time set for tomorrow. She's going to bring Maria. I can test them both then."

  The car was silent then except for the fierce wind outside. She just assumed Lex was asleep, but he suddenly said, "Sandstorm."

  Her eyes honed in on her headlights. She realized she'd been daydreaming and now, could not see five feet in front of her.

  Tentatively, she pulled the car onto the shoulder. The only way she knew she was on the shoulder was feeling the bump of concrete onto dirt. Dust flew up from her tires into the lights.

  "Sorry, Lex. I was in right brain."

  "It's okay," he said softly, as he turned to look at her. "You're there a lot, aren't you?"

  "Where?" she said absently.

  "Right brain, Renee." He took her hand in his. "What am I thinking now?"

  She felt cornered, as images came to her of both of them deeply involved in a kiss, his tongue playing with hers, while he reached for her breast. She grabbed her hand away while he laughed softly.

  "Don't leave me hanging and go into right brain, all right? It's more fun when you don't."

  He pulled himself all the way up in the seat and unfastened his seat belt. "Might as well be comfortable. We aren't going anyplace for a while in this mess."

  "Yes," she said, "I guess not." She unfastened her belt and moved the seat back.

  The silence grew between them. Except for the howling wind, there wasn't a sound in the car.

  "Umm, Renee," he said finally, "there's something I need to tell you about."

  She looked over at him and realized how physically close they really were. Intimate. The citrus scent of his aftershave wrapped around her senses, and she cursed inwardly at the temptation.

  "I've accepted a position at the city college," he said. "It's not paranormal psych anymore. It's dean of sciences, but I can still work on my book. I made sure of that."

  Her breath came out in a long sigh. She was stymied and didn't know what to say.

  "I know it's a shock. But I am leaving the university for a reason."

  "What's that?" she replied in a small voice.

  "I just can't work with you anymore."

  She rested her head on the seat back. "I know. I'm hard to work with. I'm too frigging hyper. I drive everyone away. I don't blame you."

  "How long have we worked together, Renee?"

  Pausing for a minute, she said, "I'm not sure. A year, maybe."

  He laughed softly again. "One year, one month and five days."

  "I'm that bad? You're counting days?"

  "No, I remember you walking into my office in late April a year ago. I marked my calendar."

  She looked over at him, puzzled. "I don't understand."

  He smiled and ran a hand down her face, startling her. "Of course you wouldn't," he replied. "You were too busy bouncing off the walls and talking a mile a minute to notice I was in love with you the whole time."

  "You what?" she gasped. But, as he touched her, she pictured a kiss between them again.

  His hand moved to the back of her neck and he pulled her close. He kissed her cheek and whispered, "How I've dreamed of this."

  They kissed, and it was far better than her vision and her imagination. He was real and the kiss was dynamic. She felt the electricity down to her toes.

  "Holy shit," she whispered, before they kissed again.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  Pap and Davey sat in their living room early in the morning. The day was dank and muggy, as monsoon weather threatened again. Davey was dressed in his uniform while Pap still wore his robe and slippers.

  "Anything new?" Pap asked.

  "Called that Gace guy in Rushburg. Something about that signature on the letter bothered me. His take on the signature was a 'J' although he was just guessing. Then, because there was no date on any of them, I wondered if that might have been the first letter. After that, the person didn't want to be known."

  Pap nodded. "Who were the Moorehouse couple close to? That's what you need to ask yourself. I remember Oscar and June being with the country club set. They were close to Jake and Lila what with the boys bein' friends and all."

  "How can we check signatures or initials Pap? Can't get warrants on all the 'J' initials at the bank. Seems impossible. And the profile we drew up could be half the older guys in the county."

  "Well, there's a starting point."

  "What?"

  "The age. Killer must have been at least a teen or even older at the time. Tall and over one seventy or one eighty pounds, all that. Now he'd be maybe thirties or forties. That would narrow it down considerably. 'Course if the killer's died already, we'll dead end too."

  "Yeah. Age. I'll have Lee draw up a list from the census. He won't be happy but it'll keep him busy. That's just assuming the letter is 'J.'"

  Pap struggled for breath.

  "Where's your oxygen, Pap?"

  "Ran out. Delivery is this morning."

  Davey stood up. "You going to be okay?"

  "Hard as nails."

  But before he left, Davey said, "The shed thing you told me about yesterday. You think the killer changed clothes in there? Is that where the blood trail led?"

  Pap nodded. "Didn't want to put it in the report. Always held back something 'cause we had a leak in the department back then. Everything seemed to show up in the newspaper next day. That backyard shed there was a fact I never let go of. Rushburg guys never noticed it either. They were busy trying to get home that night. Next day, didn't seem like they were too interested either."

  "And the killer changed in the shed then maybe took the bloody clothes with him?"

  "Had to be."

  "One other thing Pap. How do you figure Oscar was able to get to the kitchen with his throat slit like it was?"

  "Adrenaline. Or, something else. Let me think on it."

  Lila walked into the kitchen where Meg, Spence and Mark sat drinking coffee. Maria hummed a tune as she worked on breakfast, and the kitchen smelled like bacon.

  Lila was dreading this. "Hello everybody. Mark." She bent down and kissed him on the cheek.

  "It's so good to see you, Lila," Mark said.

  Why couldn't they all see? Lila thought as she sat at the table with her coffee. She watched him quietly as he chatted with Spence and Meg. The hair was the same, the mannerisms, the gestures.

  "Mother, did you hear me?" Meg asked.

  "I'm sorry," Lila said quickly.

  "The grand jury is set for tomorrow. Simon finally called this morning. Mark can testify and that will be that."

  Lila smiled. He would be leaving, she thought. And the constant reminder wouldn't be sitting in her kitchen after that.

  Her memories drifted back in time. The boys playing together. She'd seen the difference even then. He had the dark hair and darker eyes. The same physique. Her eyes had met June's one day and she'd just known. Mark was Jake's son.

  *****

  Willie sat watching Dana at the assembly. It was almost over and he wanted to catch her on the way out. But, as they rose to leave, to his surprise she caught him.

  "Will," she said, as they walked down the hall, "thanks for the tip on the C last night."

  "You have a good time?" he asked tightly.

  She noticed. "Joe didn't call you? I told him to let you know about the party."

  Willie smiled. "Guess he forgot."

  They were silent for a minute, before he said, "Why do you want to do coke Dana? You could get in trouble."

  "Yeah, I guess. This is such a small town. I guess I figure the cops are looking for speeders, not C
users." She sniffed and wiped her nose with a tissue.

  "That's another thing," he said, "it wrecks up your nose and your teeth fall out."

  She laughed. They stopped outside chemistry lab.

  Looking up at him she said, "You are so good-looking, Will. You don't even realize it, do you?"

  He felt himself blushing and coughed then from nervousness. "Don't know about that," he said awkwardly.

  She smiled. "And you're so sweet too. What we couldn't do together if I wasn't--"

  "Well, well," Joe interrupted, as he strolled up. His face had a brown-greenish tinge because of the beating Willie had given him.

  "Nice face," Willie said, "what do you do for Halloween?"

  Joe frowned as Dana said, "Come on, boys. Play nice."

  He grabbed her by the arm and they walked off.

  Willie watched them go, depressed that she was with Joe but elated she found him attractive.

  A minute later, Susie Fredericks walked by and dropped a book out of the stack she carried. He bent down to retrieve it, and winced as he came back up.

  "You okay, Willie?" she asked, as she took the book from him.

  Funny, he thought, he'd never really looked at her before this. Her hair was shiny shoulder-length honey blonde and her eyes were soft brown with yellow flecks. Her figure was outstanding. She wore short shorts like most of the other girls, and a t-shirt. Something in the way she looked at him was exciting, and for some reason he pictured them in bed together, with her underneath him. Must be her big breasts, he thought idly.

  "Yeah," he said, trying to get his impulses under control, "got a broken collar bone."

  "I heard about that," she said softly, as she smiled up at him. "What happened? I saw the other guy and he looked way worse."

  "Joe got in my way, I guess you could say."

  "Just can't picture you as a fighter somehow."

  He swallowed hard. He wanted to kiss her. Something about her lips being pouty like they were. For some strange reason, he wanted to kiss her really hard, right there at school. He felt his erection starting and he began to panic. "Well, I'd better get to class. I'll text you later. What's your number?"

  She told him and he quickly memorized it, before she smiled and walked down the hall.

  He breathed a sigh of relief.

  Renee greeted Meg and Maria as they walked into the offices at the university. After giving them a brief description of the tests they were about to receive, she showed the way to the labs.

  "First one is simple," Renee said, "Meg where is the ball?"

  Renee removed the divider and three cups were in view. Maria watched with interest as Meg picked up the middle one.

  "Very good," Renee said. She repeated the test for Maria.

  Renee put up the divider again. "This one is for you Maria. I'm taking four cards out of a playing deck. Can you tell me which cards they are?"

  "Noooo," Maria said finally, "cinco. You have five cards Senorita Renee."

  Renee laughed. "Very good, Maria. Okay," she removed the divider, "now for real, I'm taking ten cards out of a playing deck. Maria you have the pink post-its, Meg you have yellow. I want you to write down, in your mind's eye, which card you think is under there. It doesn't matter who starts. Just take your time and if you don't know, write a question mark."

  In a few minutes, Maria had written all the numbers, while Meg had three question marks.

  "Let's see what we've got." As she turned over the cards, it became apparent that Maria had guessed all but one.

  The tests continued. There were Zener Cards, the Hexagon Test and the Color Wheel. All were videotaped.

  "Okay," Renee said finally. "There is one more thing and it's not really a test. Just for me, I guess." She turned to Meg. "What am I thinking?" She'd done this before, and she pictured an elephant in her mind.

  "I don't know," Meg replied. "I have no clue."

  "Maria?" Renee said.

  But Maria's hand came up to her mouth before a laugh burst forth.

  Renee looked at her questioningly.

  "Ay, the sandstorm..." Maria began.

  "Stop," Renee said quickly, "tests are done. Many thanks you two for coming over."

  *****

  Karl pulled into Big Jake's house in the early morning. He noticed a BMW parked in the driveway but it didn't concern him too much.

  He opened the back door and was annoyed to see Jake, Spence and Mark Moorehouse drinking coffee. "Mark," he said stiffly, "what are you doing here?"

  Mark nodded to him.

  "Hello to you too, son," Jake said. "How was Rushburg? Get your business done?"

  Spence added, "By the way, next time you're in Rushburg I have some detectives you can hunt down and assassinate for me."

  "You still here Spence?" Karl asked as he poured coffee for himself. "I would think you'd be tired of Meg and ready to move on."

  Spence uttered an oath before he said, "Yeah, they like me so much in this town they don't want me to leave. And, no, I'm not tired of Meg."

  Karl stood against the sink and frowned.

  Big Jake said, "They charged him. For the murder of the parents."

  "Wow," Karl said, keeping his expression noncommittal, although he certainly wasn't expecting this turn of events.

  "So," Mark said, "I'm here to testify tomorrow for the grand jury."

  "What are you going to testify to?" Karl asked.

  "That Spence didn't know about the money until two years after they died."

  "Money?" Karl asked.

  "Yeah," Spence said, "around five million, and after the stock market heyday of the nineties, about ten million. Give or take."

  Karl's knuckles turned white as he clutched his coffee cup. "You've got to be shitting me. Your parents never had that kind of dough."

  "Hey," Spence said, "still waters run deep. Passed on through generations. I'll let you explain that one, Mark."

  Nodding, Mark said, "It began in the late 1800's. My grandpa's grandpa bought out a gold mine from some fool in California. Turned out to be one of the richest mother lodes ever discovered. The family was always careful not to reveal it though. To protect the children. Oscar figured if they lived rich like Jake here, any kids they had would get kidnapped."

  "Hmph," Jake said, "never happened to us."

  But Karl, who usually felt like he was rich, even around Jake, felt like he'd been had. And he wondered how much he'd get when Jake and Lila kicked. But, even added to what he had now, would be nowhere near ten million dollars.

  He looked at Spence now with envy and some measure of respect. "Let me know if I can do anything," he said quietly, wondering how he'd approach Spence for down money on the Rushburg project, after alienating him so much. But, watching Spence now, he had an even better idea. And he went to make a private phone call.

  *****

  After classes let out, Willie found Mike Mitchell. "Hey Mike, seen Susie around?"

  He laughed. "Which one?"

  "Susie Fredericks. From English class."

  "Nice," he said, raising his eyebrows. Mike was a natural comedian and Willie laughed now too, as Mike smoothed his curly black hair and twisted a non-existent moustache. "Saw her over by Tommy J's car with a gaggle of other female types."

  Willie looked for a 1969 Mustang fastback with flames on the side. Easy to find, he thought, as he saw the car and Susie leaning against it.

  "Cover me," Willie said, as he turned around.

  Mike stepped in front of him.

  Willie texted her. 'whr r u?'

  "She's picking up," Mike let him know.

  'by TJ car' she text back.

  Willie sent, 'mt me by ft sign.'

  "Cool," Willie said, "thanks Mike. I'll give you a call tonight."

  "Anytime, dude. See 'ya, wouldn't want to be 'ya."

  *****

  Renee sat across the desk from Lex and tried not to breathe too deeply of his aftershave. It seemed as if he'd worn more than necessary just to drive
her crazy today. And now, as he sat calmly observing her, she felt like he was thinking about last night. Too much clairvoyance was not a good thing, she thought ruefully.

  Her mouth was dry. She ran her tongue around her lips and his expression changed subtly. His electric blue eyes looked more alert. Now she was really sensing him and it took all her willpower to block out his thoughts.

  "She got the ball location," Renee began, "Maria I mean. She figured out the five instead of four card draw. Meg got five out of ten on the ten card face down and Maria got nine. Maria nailed the Zener and Hexagon. Meg wasn't even in the running with those."

  She rose and paced the room. "So we still don't know why Meg is having the dreams. But we do know Maria is the one she unloads on."

  He nodded. "Did she tell you any more about the dreams?"

  "I'm trying to think if the elements are in there. Earthy seems almost like where she's walking. No floods or fires. Dirt."

  "So you think earthy because of where she's running in the dreams?"

  "Wasn't Tim Grainger doing some digs around there somewhere?"

  "Archeological digs? I can find out."

  "Okay. Let me know what he says."

  An awkward silence stretched between them.

  "Renee, you can stop pacing now. I need to tell you something."

  She sat again.

  "I've referred you for my own position here. So you will be head of the department. Put in your application."

  "Oh Lex, I couldn't do that. I'm not experienced enough. I've never supervised people."

  "You'll do fine. You'll make an excellent supervisor because you have so much empathy. And there will be only one person under you anyway."

  "Okay. I'll try anything once."

  He grinned at her then, and she knew exactly what his thoughts were. He said, "How about dinner tonight?"

  "I suppose," she said slowly, remembering last night. He'd cut her off quite abruptly, after a few kisses, after they'd gotten back on the road, and she wasn't able to sleep for the rest of the night.

  "The same thing happened to me," he said suddenly.

  She looked at him quickly. "Are you a telepath, Lex?"